


Transformers - Renegades

by TheThreeofDiamonds



Category: Transformers
Genre: (I'm sorry cables), Cables (OC), Camo (OC) - Freeform, Can't think of Cybertronian vehicle names, Cannon Fodder (OC), Cannon-Mouth (OC), Crashdown (OC), Drunk Decepticons, Gearbox (OC), Gen, Generation One, Hailfire (OC), Haul Out (OC), Hurricane (OC) - Freeform, Killzone (OC), Lighthouse (OC), Mostly OC's, No main franchise characters, Omen (OC), Pace Racer (OC), Possibility of Shipping, So I just went with all earth-based ones, Storm Hound (OC), Thunder (OC) - Freeform, Thunder's Brigade, Tightrope (OC), Transformers - Freeform, TreadRunner (OC), although they are mentioned, but that will be explored later, just to save my sanity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:13:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24200383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheThreeofDiamonds/pseuds/TheThreeofDiamonds
Summary: A Ragtag group of Autobots and Decepticons that just want the war to end. they go through a series of misadventures and conflicts throughout the universe. it begins with the Decepticon outlier named Omen, his autobot support named Tightrope, a Runaway from Velocitron named Pace Racer, and another unnamed decepticon. They eventually run into the autobot camp run by Treadrunner and a Decepticon camp run by Killzone. Altogether, they are a ragtag group of misfits that continue to fight against the odds.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

Wind blew against the once active battlefield. Ash and dust brushed against the countless transformers of various shapes and sizes. All of them now a shade of grey, which made it seem like a human graveyard. Not many transformers would know that unless they had seen pictures or something like it. Regardless, there was a lot of dead after this battle.

Something black moved across the valley of death. With the day approaching twilight, it was hard to make out what it was. It occasionally stopped and looked across the field, it’s red glowing eyes scanning for any signs of life.

“Help...” a voice rang nearby. It was weak and raspy, but it caught the animal’s attention. The beast picked up its pace, and eventually found the source of the voice. A lone Autobot, impaled by some debris jutting from the ground. 

The autobot’s head turned to see what was approaching. Beast stared back, only to realize that the Autobot was blind, his optics were completely shot, leaking optical fluid, or whatever was left anyway.

The sound of transformation caught the autobots attention. 

“Hello?” the Autobot weezed “who’s there.”

The beast rose to his robotic form. Several pieces of his black armor moved aside to reveal pieces of red armor with purple accents.

“It’s okay,” the transformer announced. His voice was deep and heavy, but it sounded, tired, as if somewhat exhausted. “I’m here to help.”

“Who are you?” the autobot asked.

The transformer looked down at the decepticon badge he had on his left shoulder.

“I’m… here to help.” That was a partial lie. “What’s your name?”

The autobot coughed up energon.

“I’m Cables.”

The Decepticon looked the autobot over. The damage was pretty bad. Not only was he impaled, but the debris jutting through cracked open his spark casing, and the decepticon knew the bot only had minutes before his spark was no longer there. Most of the bot was already missing, having only his head and one of his thighs remaining attached to his torso. Energon was still leaking out of his wounds.

“Cables, i’m going to try to do something to help you out.” the decepticon announced

The bot coughed again. “Okay. please hurry, the pain hurts.”

The decepticon closed his eyes, he knew that there was nothing he could do. He looked around for a moment, and found that some rocks were perched right next to the impaled bot. He decided to sit down there, at least to make the bot more comfortable, before he…

“So, Cables, how did you end up like this?” Stupid question, the con already knew the answer.

“I...I don’t know. All i know is that i was shooting at a Decepticon, then my gun exploded, then… I think… my genades exploded. I didn’t even pull the pin.” the bot kept coughing up energon in between the sentences.

“Give me a minute.” the con paused and looked up at the sky. “Do you feel that?” the con asked, knowing that he wasn’t doing anything to the bot.

“No…” the bot sputtered

“Hm… must not be working. I’ll try something else.” the Con lied. There was a brief pause. “I think I know how this happened to you.”

“You do?”

“Yep. I know exactly what happened.” He looked up at the bot. “You’re an MTO, right?”

“Yeah, Cables of Taris 7. I was forged here.” he coughed. “Why do you ask?”

“Well,” the Decepticon looked down at the ground. “There was another MTO. a decepticon. His name is Omen.”

“Omen?” the bot chuckled “What Kind of name is that?”

“What kind of name is Cables?”

“Fair enough.”

“Omen wasn’t like the other MTO’s that came out with him. He had an alternate form that was different from the rest. A beast mode.”

“I Think I know what you’re talking about.” Cables interrupted. “I think… it’s like a leopard or something.”

“I think it’s more of a wolf.” the Con corrected.

“How would you know?” Cables snapped

The con looked down at the pool of energon that was gathered around Cables. It didn’t have all of the con’s reflection, but it was enough to see his reflection staring back at him.

“Just a hunch.” He responded.

“So, this Omen, he’s the reason why I'm in this mess?”

“Not just you.” the Con looked across the field of corpses. “He did it to bots and cons alike.”

“Wow,” the Bot just hung there, mesmerised. “How did he do that?”

“His commanding officer learned that his... beast mode had a secret. Omen’s beast mode had the ability to destabilize weaponized Energon, simply by looking. Blaster ammo, grenades, rockets, missiles, even energo blades. All of them explosions waiting to go off. And his commanding officer unleashed omen, and told him to look upon the field. That’s the main reason why your up there.” the con could feel hatred building up inside of him. “Because his commanding officer told him to.”

“Man, this war sucks.” Cables realized. There was a few seconds of silence before cables spoke again. “Do you wonder what you would do after the war?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… like when the war was over… if you could live your life as you chose… what would you do? I mean… we’re not going to be soldiers forever… are we?” Cable’s voice was getting weaker.

“Hm. I guess I haven’t thought about it.” he sat there for a few seconds. “I think… I would do what I could to have my alt mode changed… I don't know if that’s allowed on cybertron or not. But I don’t want a form that has the potential to do as much harm as it already has. Then… I think I would go out and live in an open space. One where there weren’t a lot of transformers.” the con smiled. “Yeah, I think that would be a good life for me. What about you? Did you have a plan for after the war?”

The con looked up at Cables. As soon as he saw Cables, he knew he wasn’t going to get a response. Cable’s alloy was grey, his body hung limp, and the light that was reflected off the debris from his spark chamber was gone. The Con figured that Cables would be an electrician, it would fit with his name.

“Yeah, that would have been a good career for you.” the Con muttered to himself. He stood up and put his hand on cable’s head, as if he were his own son. “Goodbye Cables. It was good to meet you. And…” the Con could feel a sense of sorrow build up inside of himself. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I did this to you.”

And with that, Omen left, changing back into his Wolf mode, and scampering back into the valley.

The Decepticon base was bustling with the sounds of activity by the time Omen got back. Many of his fellow warriors were joyus over their victory of the autobots, and others were busy getting ready for another one, albeit not as grand as the last. 

“Omen!” a sturdy voice called.

Omen turned to see his commanding officer approaching. Quickly, he turned back to his robot mode and stood at attention.

“Commander.” Omen greeted.

“At ease Omen.” the C.O. was clearly drunk with an energon overload. He approached Omen and put his arm around Omen’s shoulder. “It’s been a great day! Where have you been? It would have been a great celebration!”

“I...needed some time alone.” Omen Answered.

“Ah, well. I hope it was worth it.” from out of nowhere, the commander pulled a bottle of energon out and took a long swig. It was awkward, and it was quite some time before he pulled himself away from the bottle to talk again. “I...Posted about you on the Decepticon Info-net.you have turned quite a few heads, my friend.”

Omen was both flattered and concerned. But he didn’t have a chance to debate it. The sound of a starship entering the upper atmosphere caught everyone’s attention.

“Ah,” the commanding officer mused. “They’re here.”

“Who’s here?” omen was afraid of the answer.

“Thunder’s Brigade. They’re here to take a look at you.”

“...oh…” Omen felt his spark drop. After today, he didn’t really want to talk to anyone. He felt sick. At least, internally he did. but he had the strength to hide it. Either that or the C.O. was too drunk to care. “Commander, if you don’t mind, I need to take care of a couple of things.”

“Aw, but you need to meet these guys. Not as legendary as the Decepticon High command, but they do their job well. They want to take you into their brigade!”

Omen couldn’t be less excited about this.

“I’ll meet them.” he took his C.O.’s arm off of him. “I’ll take care of these things first, then I talk to them. Maybe you could talk to them for a bit before I come back.” 

The C.O. was too drunk to argue. He just took another long swig before just shrugging. Omen walked away, leaving everyone in the yard to entertain Thunder’s Brigade until he got back.


	2. Chapter 2

There are Five members in Thunder’s Brigade. 

There was Thunder, himself. Leader of the Brigade with a heavy tank alternate mode. Next was Storm-Hound. This one exited the ship in his dog-beast mode, staring everyone down with his lightning-yellow eyes. After him was Lighthouse . He was tall and slender. He wore a visor and faceplate, but other than that, there was nothing to really identify what his alternate mode was. The next was a Decepticon named Hurricane. The armor on him made it clear that he had a jet alternate form. The final one was a smaller Decepticon named Pace Racer. This one had all the indications that this one had a race car alternate form. She also scampered off while the two commanders began to talk.

However, there was a sixth transformer on the ship. In all facts of the matter, he wasn’t even supposed to be there. But there he was, waiting in the cargo hold and sneaking off just as the crew exited the ship. No one actually saw him, they were all focused on the guests that were supposed to be there.

The Bot was actually rather large for someone who was sneaking around. Having both a locomotive and bomber alternate modes made one quite cumbersome, and very easy to spot if you were snooping around in places you shouldn’t. Which was exactly what happened while he was strolling down one of the halls, deep within the base.

“Hey you!” someone shouted.

The spy turned around causally, acting as if all was as it should.

“Hm?” he had to look down at the con.

“Who are you?” the con demanded, hand on his blaster. “What are you doing here?”

“Name’s Tightrope.” he responded with a smile. “I’m looking for the decal room. See, I’ve switched sides and I kinda want this autobot symbol i have here…” he started reaching for his wings, trying to point out the autobot symbol on there. “Removed, just to remove confusion. Hey do you know where that is?”

The Con eyed him, rather suspiciously. “You know that sounds like a common trick the autobots would use.” 

“You know,” tightrope thought for a second. “You’re right. That is a common trick. Would it be better if I told you i was here to see a super weapon and determine whether or not it was worth destroying?” 

That part was true. Tightrope had caught wind of a super-weapon that decimated both autobots and decepticons alike. Coincidently, a group that he was trailing called thunder’s brigade was going to pick it up. So, He decided to hitch a ride with him, killing Two scraplets with one stone.

The con just stared at Tightrope in confusion.

“You have no idea what to think, do you?” Tightrope asked.

“I...I…” the Con was stumbling to try to find some words.

“How about this, let’s go talk to the C.O. He’ll be able to clear this up. Sound good?”

“I...i guess. But don’t try anything.” it was clear that the con was trying to show dominance, but that was hard when confusion just ran rampant. 

Tightrope led the way, the Con close behind. They passed a few intersections, and the con had to redirect Tightrope at both. Despite all this, Tightrope felt like stirring up a conversation.

“So, how long have you been here?”

“Um, a few solar cycles.” The con was blunt.

“So, do you work in security then?”

“No.”

Tightrope stopped and turned around.

“Wait, then what do you do around here?”

“I’m...I’m a maintenance bot. I don’t see a lot of action.” he admitted, as if embarrassed.

Tightrope sensed an opportunity. “Well, that’s a matter of perspective. Maintenance itself can be a lot of action.”

The Con looked up at Tightrope with Annoyance.

“How?” he Demanded.

“Well, Think about it.” Tightrope leaned against a wall. “Warriors see action every...what? Once or Twice a Lunar Cycle? That’s a long waiting period then a few cycles where you get shot at and you shoot back, AND quite possibly die. Not very glamorous if you asked me.” 

“I guess…”

“Now, a Maintenance Bot, on the other hand. They see action day after day. How often are you called out to fix something or help someone out?”

“Almost...every day?”

“Exactly. You see more action in one solar cycle than a warrior will in ten solar cycles. That’s saying something.”

“Yeah...but the warriors get more of the glory.” the Con Objected.

“Hey!” Tightrope knelt down and put his hands on the con’s soldiers. “Don’t think like that. Remember this: everyone isn’t going to need a warrior when the war ends. If anything, they’ll be irrelevant. However, people are going to need people like you and me. People that can help build society into something better.”

The Con stared at Tightrope, then to the floor. There were several seconds of silence.

“Do you really think so?” the Con finally asked.

“Absolutely. And another thing to remember: You are a wonderful Cybertronian. You have talent and a skill set that no one can truly copy. You may not realize it now, Hell, you may even need a full Life Cycle to realize what it is, But you have it. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”

Tightrope could see the Con’s attitude lift a bit, he even started smiling. That just made tightrope feel a little warm and fuzzy inside...But onto the main reason why he was here in the first place.

“Now, I need to level with you. I am an Autobot. That whole thing I made up about switching sides was a lie.” A flash of panic whipped across the eyes of the Decepticon, and he began to reach for his Blaster. Tightrope stopped him before he could pull it out. “Hey, Listen to me. I need to destroy that weapon. Yeah, It’s a bit selfish what I’m about to say, But there are hundreds of Autobot lives on the line. Also, I’m pretty sure you don’t know, There are just as many Decepticons on the line with this weapon. From the reports that I’ve read, this weapon doesn’t discriminate against the two.”

The Decepticon pulled away from Tightrope. Tightrope could tell that he wanted to run and get some help, but that Tightrope had said created a lot of conflict in him.

“Look, you don’t have to help me. I totally understand if you don’t. I Just want to save as many lives as possible. I may wear the autobot symbol, but that doesn’t mean that I only care about autobots. All Cybertronians Matter. Not Just autobots, Not just Decepticons.”

The con stared down at the floor, deep in thought. 

“I...I don’t know…” The con was trying to find an argument. “I mean, I’m not qualified to make this sort of decision…”

“Yes you are.” Tightrope argued. “You have a mind and a spark. You are more than qualified to make a decision. This is your chance to save a lot of lives. Please. Help me.”

Both the con and Tightrope were silent for a while. The sounds of others approaching grew louder for a second, but then faded away when they went down a different hallway, not noticing the two. Just as Tightrope was about to leave the con alone, the Con finally spoke.

“There’s a ledge on the north side of the mountain, the one that this base is connected to. You’ll find him there.”

Oh...Tightrope thought. That might be a problem. Tightrope stood up, trying to think about how he was going to fix this.

“Thank you.” Tightrope said. “Take care of yourself friend.” He then left the Con to go to the ridge. 

Tightrope almost got into some trouble when he stepped outside to go up the mountain. there was a patrol that was returning inside the base, and they would have definitely shot him. Fortunately, Tightrope had his tractor-beam, so he was able to attach himself to the ceiling so that he could stay out of their sight. when they left, he exited the base and began to work his way up the mountain.

To his surprise, there was a path up the mountain, making his journey much easier. the more difficult part was getting to the North side of the mountain with the ridge. then was a path to it, but it was too narrow for him to cross safely. But it was risks like this that got his Energon pumping.

He couldn't afford to take the risk this time, however. so using his tractor beam, he found a outcropping of rocks above him and attached it to make a sort of swing. With it he was able to get across and onto the ridge on the other side.

Tightrope examined the Ridge around him. it looked it had been cleared off, apart from what looked like a pile of rocks that one could sit on located close to the edge. on the pile was a black deception, with purple and red accents, overlooking the valley and the base below.

The View from the ledge was incredible. light reflecting from the main planet began to illuminate the valley with a soft, dark purple. the White lights illuminating from the Deception Base below casted a lot of contrast against the darkness, creating a canvas of light and darkness. However, Tightrope was not here for the view.

Tightrope slowly approached the Decepticon, trying not to startle him. He must have made a noise or something, because the Black con turned around and stared at Tightrope. However, he didn't seem to care. The Deception just turned back around and stared at the open valley.

The autobot relaxed for a bit, figuring it was alright to approach. He didn't know if the con saw his symbol in the darkness, but it didn't matter to him. He just walked closer and stood next to him, staring into the deep purple.

"It's a wonderful view." Tightrope commented.

"No. it's not." Omen corrected.

Tightrope looked down at Omen, a bit shocked that he would make such a statement, but not surprised.

"I'm...Sorry?" Tightrope was guessing at what to say to make him feel better, but decided to just stay quiet for a few more minutes. "do yo mind if I ask why it's not a Wonderfull view?"

"Because that valley is filled with nothing but death." Omen stated.

"Oh."

Back to silence again. Omen really wasn't giving Tightrope anything to go on here, and it was starting to grind on Tightrope's gears a little.

"So, why are you here?" Omen asked, rather abruptly. it surprised Tightrope, but it was an opportunity he was going to take.

"Well, if the rumors I've heard are true...I'm here for you."

"are you a member of Thunder's Brigade?" Omen Demanded.

"What? No. Of course not." Tightrope defended. "I wouldn't want to be associated with them. Granted, I'm not much of a fighter to begin with. I'm more of an entertainer at spark."

"So you're here for revenge then." Omen Stated. "I'm not going to stop you. Just go ahead and do it."

Tightrope was taken aback. this was not normal behavior. Even worse, this wasn't even normal Decepticon behavior. No Decepticon that Tightrope has ever met would have been okay with their life ending without a fight.

"No." Tightrope declared. "Not worth it. you are a wonderful Cybertronian with a spark and mi-"

Omen snapped up to Tightrope faster than he was able to finish his sentence. 

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT SCRAP!" Omen yelled. He then pulled back and sat back down on the pile of rocks. "I've caused too much death. I deserve nothing less."

Okay, this wasn't working. time for a more heavy handed approach.

"you know what?" Tightrope mused. "you're probably right. You have caused a lot of death. congratulations. you are self aware. But, here's the truth of the matter: So has everyone else that has either held a gun, or thrown a grenade, or fired a cannon, or even given an order to do anything. So, if you are being hard on yourself because you killed somebody, okay. Why should anyone else care? Everyone's basically done it at this point. what makes you so different from them?"

Tightrope stared at the now silent Decepticon. he could tell that the con was thinking about what Tightrope had just said. Granted it may have been a bit harsh, but who knows. Maybe this guy would be a bit more receptive now.

"so, you're saying that killing is okay?" Omen asked.

"Ab-so-lu-tly NOT!" Tightrope enunciated. "Killing is NOT okay. what I am saying is your moping, when everyone else is moving on from the filth that, especially, comes with a war such as this. Yes, this war sucks. there's nothing that can truly be done about it. But there is something that you can do about yourself."

"Like what?"

"Like preventing it from happening again." Tightrope sat down next to Omen. "I'm not denying that you've caused a lot of death down there, It was probably very shocking for you when it happened. But only you are truly in control of whatever you have. Not me, Not the Autobots, Not the Decepticons, Not even Optimus Prime or Megatron. You have the power to choose whether or not to use your power. And, if you truly wanted, you could even use it to help people."

the two sat there in silence again for a few minutes, allowing for Omen to think about his words.

"do you think..."Omen Began.

He didn't get to finish his thought. the sound of an explosion from the base down below caught the two transformer's attention. they both stood up and stared at the new fire that was caused down below.

"was that an accident?" Omen asked.

there was a bright yellow laser that came from inside the base, then something else exploded.

"No, I don't think so." Tightrope answered.

Omen continued to stare at the base, but quickly noticed that Tightrope had left and was attaching a grappling hook to the outcropping.

"where are you going?" Omen Asked.

"I'm going down to help. I think Thunder lost his patience and now has Lighthouse bringing it down. I've been doing my homework on them, this is kinda their thing. So, I'm going to get as many as I can out of there." Tightrope turned to face the con. "If you want to join me, you're more than welcome. This may be your chance to help people. maybe even a lot of people. But I can't wait for you to answer. think it over." 

And with that, a quick breath, and a now very active Energon pump, Tightrope depended on the base. He hoped that the decepticon would think about helping, then Tightrope could get some help containing the powers that con had. but that was for later. Now, there were decepticons to save.


	3. Chapter 3

Pace Racer just wanted to spend some time away from Thunder and his crew. As soon as they touched down, she made her way out of the base and went off for a drive. 

It was dark by the time she took off, but that hadn’t stopped her before. On velocitron, there were some nights that were darker than this, and Pace Racer had made it through the streets just fine. The only difference was that Velocitron was mostly made of Smooth Road. Here, the terrain was rough and bumpy. It wasn’t anything new to her, there was rocky terrain back home. However the open road was more common.

Pace Racer had often wondered what had caused her to be a part of Thunder’s Brigade in the first place. She had run away from Velocitron several months ago, and had never looked back since. She remembers leaving for something, ANYTHING, other than racing. Racing had dictated everything back home. Politics, status, Everything. One big race track determining everything.

And Pace Racer didn’t want it. The speed, the rush, none of it called to her. Not like it had to everyone else. So, she set off. Wandered for several weeks before her ship crashed...on the same planet as Thunder’s brigade.

Maybe it was charm, maybe it was her speed,or maybe it was something else, but for some reason, they took her in. made her a Decepticon. But later, she had learned that she was meant to replace someone that had left the Brigade. That was someone they hunted down months later. 

That was Pace Racer’s first true introduction to the war. How awful it was. How there was practically no escape from it. Once she had entered, she couldn’t leave. How could she? She just couldn’t go back to Velocitron. If she were to do that, there was a huge chance that the War would follow her, and Pace Racer would have been labeled a traitor of Velocitron. And that’s something she can’t have on her conscience.

The other option was to just run away to some remote corner of the universe and live out her life until she rusted away...but what kind of life is that? 

“Hurricane to Pace.” the brisk voice startled Pace Racer. She never really liked talking to Hurricane, but given the other options, there wasn’t really anyone else to talk to. Lighthouse barely talked, Thunder was always grouchy, and Storm-hound was more of an animal than a regular transformer.

“Here, what’s up?”

“Thunder’s getting impatient with the Command here. He’s seriously considering setting Lighthouse loose upon them so that, and I quote, ‘spare the decepticons of their incompetence.’”

“So, turn around and come back?”

“Yes. It would be a shame if we had to remove two members of the Brigade in a galactic cycle...but it wouldn’t be uncommon” he said the last part in a creepy sing-song voice. Pace Racer hated that.

“Understood, I’m on my way back now.” Pace Racer heard the coms shut off, which gave her a moment to think. She didn’t really want to go back to them. But she also didn’t want to endanger anyone else that was close to her.

So, instinctively, she headed back, unable to come up with another solution.

By the time Pace Racer got back, the walls of the base were almost burnt down to the ground, allowing her to drive right in without any resistance other than the ruble that littered the ground. 

“Ah, Pace! New record!” Hurricane greeted. “I was hoping it would have taken you longer to get back after I called. Oh well.”

Pace changed from her alt-mode and walked right past Hurricane. She also tried to ignore the pain that she heard around her. But every now and again, there was a scream that caught her attention, just before Lighthouse ended it with his face cannon.

“Ah, Good to see you among us.” a deep voice bellowed. It had an accent that was close to basic, but it had a slight...what was the word...polish to it. Something that made it sound different enough to notice, but close enough to understand.

Pace Racer turned to see who it was. Lo and behold, it was Thunder, who was playing with his mustache and viewing the carnage. She stood at attention, or what she thought was close to it, as he approached.

“Thank you commander.”

“At ease, my loyal compatriot.” he said with a chuckle. “You know how...informal, we are around here, wot wot?” The sentence did not put her at ease at all. “You must be wondering why I ordered an attack on these ruffians, Eh?”

“Actually,” Hurricane chimed in, “I think we all know wh-”

“It was because these ruffians were undisciplined.” the commander cut Hurricane off, who in turn pouted and sulked away. “They are nothing but fools that take too much time to ...celebrate, instead of preparing for the next offensive. Too disappointing for me to overlook. And therefore, must be removed from the decepticon army.”

If Pace had the power, she would run Thunder through the ground for what he just said. 

“Which is just the type of thing to keep all of us busy.” Thunder continued. “All jolly good. Now, I need you and Stormhound to run through the base. Make sure that these rapscallions are good and buried. Speaking of…” Thunder turned to holler for Stormhound, who came running with energon dripping from his mouth. It was not a comforting sight to Pace. 

The next few minutes were a haze for Pace. it was just her walking through the halls of the base while Stormhound did all the...work. It was this kind of moment that made Pace Racer question why she left Velocitron in the first place. This whole search for ‘Adventure’ was not what she wanted. She wanted something more than Racing. Something that would actually get her motor running...but this wasn’t what she wanted. 

Who would even want a war in the first place? How in the name of Oblivion does one get out of a war they don’t want? How do I get home now? Many questions and more went through Pace’s head. Unfortunately she didn’t have the answers that she wanted. All of the answers just led her back to the consequences of her actions, and she did not want to be hunted down.

Something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned to see what it was, and much to her surprise, it was a rather large autobot. Pace Cocked her head in confusion as she saw the giant digging away at some of the debris.

“Well, Hello again!” the Bot declared as he pulled someone from the rubble.

“Y-you’re alive?”the cons stuttered.

“Of course I am.” the Bot confirmed. “I’m too lucky to die.”

The con whipped out his blaster, albeit his aim was visibly shaky, even from Pace’s perspective. 

“This...this is your fault.” the con accused. “You’re the reason why the base is under attack!”

“Ummmm...No.” the bot objected. “No, I don’t think so.”

“You have to have done this! All you Autobots do is bring death and destruction!”

“Are you sure about that?” the Bot leaned back and put his hands behind his head.

Pace Racer was shocked when Stormhound jumped behind her. She turned suddenly to see the energon drenched hound. He also seemed to have an arm or a hand in his mouth, but he swallowed it before Pace could see what it was. That all didn’t matter though, because then Stormhound saw the Autobot and the Decepticon. Unfortunately, Stormhound’s snarling also caught the attention of everyone.

“Oh…” The Bot groaned. “That’s not good.”

Stormhound charged the two at the end of the hall. Energon was dripping out of his mouth like a rabid dog, bent on killing something. He jumped on the Decepticon, although he had to fight the gun that was now in the beast’s mouth. There was no point in pulling the trigger, not if you wanted to leave a whole in the adjacent wall. Stormhound’s claws were actively digging its way into the Con’s arms, causing him to quickly lose his strength in this fight.

Stormhound caused a huge gash on the Decepticon’s arm, causing him to recoil his hand, and more importantly, dislodge the gun from Stormhound’s mouth. 

Just as Stomhound was about to bite down on the decepticons Neck, or head, who would know, A pink-ish aura surrounded the dog. He then started to levitate, and shortly after, be flung into a nearby air vent, causing him to be stuck. The decepticon looked up at the Autobot, who had a pink aura that was now fading around his hand.

“You...you saved me…” the con was trying to wrap his head around it.

“Yep. Having a tractor beam is a very handy ability. although” the Bot reached to his tractor beam hand and began to massage it. “It takes a lot of power and it tingles.”

Whether or not the two knew that Pace was there, she ducked to an adjacent hallway but she was able to see everything that took place. Pace Racer watched all of this with a newfound fascination. Not once in her entire time as a Decepticon, has she seen someone actually stand up to any member of Thunder’s Brigade. 

And more importantly, it gave Pace Racer something new, something she hadn’t felt since she left Velocitron. 

She felt hope. 

“Alright,” the Bot commanded. “We need to get out of here. I haven’t found anyone else, so they may have gotten out already.” The Bot took off down the hallway past where Pace was hiding. She waited for the decepticon to follow. Which he did, but hesitantly.

Pace Racer emerged from her hall and watched as the two took off. She couldn’t help but be admired that the Autobot had the Manifolds to fight Stormhound. Maybe...just maybe...there was a chance to get away from Thunder and his crew. One that had the possibility to avoid bringing her home under attack.

It was at that point Pace remembered that Stormhound was in the wall. She made her way to glance in the wall where the hound was stuck. it was clawing and pushing in whatever way it could, tying to get out of its newfound hole. Pace glanced behind her to the hall that the other two went down, then back to Stormhound.

She turned and began to chase after the two that went down the hall. As she did so, something came across her face that she hadn’t done in a long time.

She began to smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone, sorry for the later than expected update. Much has demanded my attention the past few months...(yikes). I will do what I can to keep pace with the story.


	4. Chapter 4

Elsewhere in the Galaxy, a Decepticon squad was recovering from an assault on the autobots. To give a brief recap on things, it was not as horrible as it could be. The sides were evenly matched...ish. And both sides were camped in their individual ships, and have been for several Days.

The Decepticon’s crashed ship, however, was in terrible condition. Access panels were pulled from their spots and were scattered all around the floor and walls. Some of the remaining lights that weren’t busted were either flickering or glowing with a consistent blue light. Anything that wasn’t mandatory was reworked, leaving excess cables dangling from the ceiling and jutting from the walls. Not the best of conditions, but it was enough to call home.

The acting commander was busy trying to re-examine and re-evaluate the situation. KillZone may or may not have orchestrated the death of his former commander, but almost every decepticon that was still alive was behind him on that one, and that number was few. The reason why their numbers were so few was because the former commander led a full out counter attack against the autobots. Both sides were decimated, and gave KillZone the chance to get rid of Warfront, but by the time that act was done, the Decepticons were reduced to five.

Killzone ran his own reconacense against the autobots, because the other decepticons were either needed elsewhere, or needed out of the way. Mostly, out of the way.

Haul-out was on defence, but he was lazy enough to fall asleep while there. So, he had his brute muscle, Cannon-fodder, guard the main entrance to the ship. He is incredibly durable, and any autobot would probably get killed before they made a dent in his armor. Gearbox wasn’t really a decepticon, but he was the closest thing Killzone had to a friend. He was busy rewiring things so that their temporary HQ would run more efficiently to save on energy.

That just left the crazy one… Crashdown… Killzone left him on a scavenging mission, just to keep him out of the way. Primus knows that psychopath needs to stay busy otherwise he might try to mess with this fellow's perception of each other. And that was strained enough as it is.

Killzone approached the ridge that overlooked the autobot base. He wasn’t built for reconacense missions like some of the smaller transformers, his bulky frame and alternate form was more akin to a heavy truck. He knew that his maroon and purple armor didn't help this mission, but given the alternatives of who else would go, there really was no other choice.

KillZone laid down so that he was more concealed from any prying optics. His visor displayed several pieces of tactical information. Range, available ammunition, Weapons identification, etc. right now all that wasn’t useful. Killzone then activated his Energon vision, which in turn triggered all the tactical information to come to life. With his energon vision, and his tactical information, he could see everyone inside the base and what weapons they had on them.

He saw four autobots, and they seemed like they were in some sort of meeting, which gave him ample time to read what they had. One of the smaller ones seemed heavily armed to the teeth with heavy ordinance. Rockets, Missiles, and grenades popped up when KillZone eyed him. Another small one had some sort of sniper rifle. KillZone wished that that bot wouldn’t have any sort of cloaking tech to go with it. That would make him nearly impossible to track and stop. The two bigger ones seemed like they had just standard equipment. Heavy blasters and grenades showed up there. But one of them seemed to have some sort of Sound cannon that his database couldn’t identify.

Satisfied with this information, KillZone took another look around the ship to see if he could see anyone else. Seeing weapons were useless unless they were held by anyone, but it still wouldn’t hurt to look. Then his sight caught the most peculiar energon source that he had ever seen. It was strong, and it seemed to feed itself to only one area of the ship at the moment, and it was nowhere near where the other autobots were. 

“Interesting…” KillZone mutters to himself. Not a moment too soon, however, two more streaks of energon flow streamed from the peculiar source. Redirecting energon flow. Clever. Certainly helps to conserve power. Usually only titan class warriors had th-

KillZone stopped himself mid-thought. Only titan class warriors had those because their alternate modes take too much energy to power all at once, so they had energon diverters so that they could still use essential components while still concerving energon, and if needed, direct them to other components to be used. KillZone snapped himself out of his train of thought just in time to see that a row of cannons had been powered up and were now turning to face him.

“Spawn of a Glitch.” KillZone muttered. He jumped up and ran a few steps just in time for the ridge behind him to explode from several cannon explosions. The combination of the explosions and the ground breaking apart made KillZone lose his footing. He flew and hit the ground, Hard, which in turn snapped off his energon vision for him. A little phased and disoriented, but not out. yet.

KillZone was sure that the other autobots inside would have been alerted and are now on their way. Shaking himself from the impact, he got up and transformed into his truck mode, with an artillery turret in the truck bed, he then drove off as quickly as he could.

As he was driving away, he saw a bright flash in his rearview mirrors. He turned his turret around to see that three of the autobots were pursuing him, all of them in alternate modes. The two smaller ones and a larger one. Good, KillZone thought. At least the Titan wasn’t giving case. Now He had even more confidence that he could get out of this one alive.

***

“Ha Ha!” one of the smaller autobots proclaimed. “This Scrap Heap picked the wrong day to mess with us!” two compartments of missile silos revealed themselves

“Hailfire, Wait!” the larger autobot yelled.

Too late. Several missiles had already been fired. All of them streaking straight for the decepticon.

“See ya in Oblivion ya spawn of a glitch!” Hailfire yelled. As if on cue, there was a sound of cannons firing, followed by some airborne explosions. Nothing lethal to the autobots, but the missiles that were in pursuit exploded before they hit their target.

“Wha…” Hailfire gawked in confusion “What did he…”

“Flak Cannons.” the larger of the autobots replied. “They take out any airborne target, aircraft and missiles alike. Camo, Jump in! We need to Know who we are dealing with.”

The one that looked like a buggy jumped and transformed into the back of the larger transformer’s truck mode. she was slender, and she looked like she had a cape. A sniper rifle was strapped to her back, and Goggles and a faceplate covered her face, leaving her tan armor with green accents her only physical features.

Camo raised her sniper rifle so that she could see through the scope. After a few seconds, she dropped it and started tapping on the larger autobots frame. The tapping was rhythmic, and only those that knew what the tapping ment knew that it was her way of communicating

It’s a Decepticon, Maroon and purple color scheme. It looks like the decepticon company clerk. 

“Not the Commanding officer? Why would he send the clerk out?” the larger autobot asked

“The Decepticons do Paperwork?” Hailfire asked. His question was ignored.

“Can you shoot out his tires?” 

Camo lifted her rifle again, took a few seconds to look, then set it down and began to tap

No good, he’s too far away and the terrain is too bumpy and rocky to make a shot that small. I’ll need a better vantage point in order to make that shot, it would be better if he were moving sideways to me.

“Alright” the larger autobot thought for a moment. “Camo, you go on ahead to the right. See if you can make him slow down.”

Camo jumped off and rolled into her buggy form, then drove as quickly as she could to find some higher ground.

“Hailfire, see if you can get this guy into camo’s range so that he can get this guy to stop. I’ll continue pursuit so he won’t get any rest from behind.”

“Ya got it boss.” he began to speed up

“Hailfire,” the truck called

“What?”

“Remember, we need him alive. He is the one that will most likely have this camp of decepticons surrender. That will be one less camp to deal with later.”

“Ugh,” the bot moaned, “Fine.” he then sped off away from his commanding officer.

<\\_/><\\_/>

Camo eventually found her way onto some higher ground. she could see Hailfire start to unleash a few rockets. None of them hit the target, but it did alter the path of the decepticon closer to his location. Now was the harder part. If the con was moving towards him, the shot could be a bit easier, but he was now running perpendicular. This meant that Camo had to time the shot just right or she would need to do this all over again.

More explosions surrounded Hailfire this time. The decepticon was firing back. Camo needed to make this shot count.

She took careful aim, kneeling down as her wings helped her maintain stability as they supported her back, creating a brace behind her. This gave her the look of a smooth rock with a long stick coming out of it.

More explosions from both Hailfire and the con lit up the valley. The two constantly throwing volleys at the other. Camo aimed her rifle well ahead of his target, and waited for the perfect opprotunity.

Camo waited.

More explosions.

Camo knelt perfectly still.

Suddenly camo pulled the trigger. she waited a couple seconds before she got confirmation of the hit. The decepticon’s front tire popped, and caused the front of the con’s vehicle mode to drop and drastically slow down. 

Camo saw Hailfire transform and tackle the con, causing him to transform as well. Then she saw the commanding officer pull up as well. When he caught up, Camo then Stood up to join the others.

The sound of a jet engine caught Camo’s attention. Before she could see where it was coming from, she got hit by something that caused an odd sensation. Before her vision went out, she heard the sound of a transformation cog, and a cold, snake-like voice speak to him.

“Good,” the voice proclaimed “let’s see what you can do.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Cannon-Mouth to Treadrunner.” Cannon-Mouth chimed on the radio

“Go Ahead.” Treadrunner responded. He had been chasing what was the Decepticon clerk, so he left the engineer to check on energon reserves.

“Just checked on the reserves. The shot from the cannons drained about three rations of energon.”

“Understood, we need to conserve energon now. Would we have enough to carry a prisoner back?”

“To my calculations...No.” Cannon-Mouth grieved.

Treadrunner sighed. “Very Well, We’ll get whatever information we need from him then let him go. If he gives us any more trouble… we’ll make it up from there.”

“Understood, Cannon-Mouth out.”

Treadrunner heard the communication array click off, giving him the chance to hear Camo’s sniper shot and the tire on the decepticon blow out. He then picked up speed just as he saw Hailfire tackle the con out of his alt-mode. When Treadrunner caught up, he transformed out of his alt-mode. Hailfire was standing over the Con as well and had both of his arm rocket launchers pointed over the new prisoner.

Treadrunner towered over both the con and hailfire. Hailfire was about waist height to Treadrunner, and the Con that was on the ground seemed to be about as tall as him, but if he was smart, he knew any sudden movements would imply that he would be blasted to bits.  
“Identify yourself.” Treadrunner commanded.

The con wore a faceplate and visor, hiding any facial expression from those looking at him, but even through the visor, Treadrunner could see the glare peering through the visor.

“Look,” Treadrunner pinched his nose. “We both know we don’t have the power for… whatever this is. So if you could just tell us who you are and why you were peering over a ridge at us, we can just get this over with and go back.”

The Con Chuckled. “Seriously? You’re the commanding officer of this team right? And you couldn’t figure out why I was on a ridge? You’re either new to this post, or you are just a simple idiot pretending to play hero.”

Treadrunner eyed the con up and down. A part of him wanted to have Hailfire just unload on him because of that comment for a bit, but there was a code of honor he had to uphold. He needed information from him, and it was no good from a dead decepticon.

“Why did Warfront send you?” Treadrunner demanded.

The Decepticon laughed “Warfront? Ha! Warfront won’t be seen anymore since the last battle. We are under… how is it said… under new management.”

Treadrunner started to put some of the pieces together, but before he could ask any more questions, a sniper shot nailed him in the shoulder, causing him to topple over on his side in immense pain. He was still conscious enough to see that Hailfire and the con went to somecover behind some nearby boulders, Several sniper shots firing after them as they moved to their spots of cover. Treadrunner was able to crawl to the rock that hailfire was at and propped himself up.

“What the Frag!” Hailfire yelled. He placed one of his launchers just outside the cover of the rock and fired a few missiles. They were immediately shot out of the sky by sniper fire. “What is she doing?!?”

Treadrunner looked over at the con. He saw the con’s visor glow yellow that emanated from his optics. The con then turned to face the rock, while at the same time, one of his arms transformed, with his forearm bending around on top of the shoulder cannon that he had, creating a sort of cannon arm with a heavy assault gun atop of that. Treadrunner had no idea how the con was going to be able to do anything to the assailant. 

In a sudden turn of events, the con stopped examining what seemed like the rock and turned to face the ground, his non-cannon hand reaching up to his communications array in his headset. Treadrunner couldn’t make out the whole conversation, but the side with the would-been prisoner was all too clear.

“Killzone to crashdown, What in Primus’s name are you doing?!?”

A couple seconds of silence interrupted by a couple rounds of sniper fire.

“WHY?!? I don’t need any help! And even so, the ‘help’ you are giving right now, is currently aiming right for my head!”

KillZone did have a point, most of the sniper shots were more focused on Killzone’s position than the rock that he and Hailfire were hiding behind. 

“Crashdown, I am your commanding officer,” Killzone informed. “And I order you to hold your-“ he was cut off by what seemed to be a sudden rebuttal. “Crashdown, I swear to Primus- CRASHDOWN!!!” A yell came from Killzone As he punched the ground in frustration.

Treadrunner saw that Killzone was looking directly at Hailfire and himself, which was quite unnerving given the circumstances. He then Glanced back at the assailant’s direction then back to the autobots that were taking cover with him.

“Okay, I know this isn’t exactly the most ideal circumstance, but I have a proposal.” Killzone yelled

“What, you out of your fraggin’ mind?” Hailfire yelled back. A couple rounds of sniper fire started tearing up the rock that Killzone was hidden behind. “What in primus’s name do you think we’d want work with a scrap heap like you?”

“Because as crazy as Crashdown is, he is equally persistent. He won’t stop until all of us are offline.” Killzone informed.

“Bah,” Hailfire grunted “I don’t buy it. We can take this guy ourselves boss.” He looked down at Treadrunner.

Treadrunner thought for a moment. It was clear that Killzone knew more about this Crashdown character, which was an advantage in and of itself. And, it was statistically better to have more people to work with in a time of crisis, or at least that’s what Treadrunner was told. He was already wounded and if he waited any longer, Hailfire might do something reckless and get himself shot, And there wasn’t enough energon back at base to help him recover. The choice was clear here. If only camo were here right now. Where was he?

“What do you have in mind?” Treadrunner asked.

“WHAT?” Hailfire yelled.

“Did you have any other members of your party? I saw three of you chasing me, but now there are only two of you.”

“We had another. Camo, she shot out your tire in order to get you to stop. I don’t know where she is now.” Treadrunner responded.

“WHAT?” Hailfire yelled again.

“Okay,” Killzone thought for a moment. “she’s probably the one that’s been taken over by Crashdown.”

“WHAT?” Hailfire yelled again

“WILL YOU STOP THAT!?!” Killzone yelled back. “Do you think yelling what over and over will fix this situation? How stupid are you?”

“Why you,” hailfire moved to get up from his cover, but before he got his head over the rock, Killzone leapt forward. A shot of sniper fire was heard, and metal and energon spewed from Killzone’s face. He was able to tackle Hailfire back to the ground, preventing more unnecessary death.

Hailfire managed to get Killzone’s large frame off of himself. All Treadrunner could do was watch in shock as he saw Killzone lump to the ground. There was a bit of relief when Killzone started moving again, which was good, it meant that he wasn’t severely injured. What shocked Treadrunner even more so, was how much evidence of abuse there was on Killzone’s face now that his faceplate and visor were shattered. Grey splotches where color should have covered his face. The energon leaking from his mouth was probably from the sniper shot, but-

“STOP STARING!” Killzone demanded.

Treadrunner shook himself from Killzone’s face Killzone then huddled up in between the two bots.

“Aw, great.” Hailfire muttered. “Now he’s here.”

“Is he always like this?” Killzone asked

“Yeah,” Treadrunner admitted.

“Hey!”

“Shut up. Now listen up, I’ve got a plan.” Killzone announced “one of you give me one of your grenades.”

“WHAT?” Hailfire yelled

“Do not start that again with me you bit-brain. My patience was through with you when you started shooting missiles. Grenade. Now.”

“Why do you need one of our grenades?” Treadrunner asked. He was already reaching for the storage compartment.

“Because I don’t have any. What we’re going to do is throw our grenades toward Crashdown.”

“But, the grenades won’t reach that far. We won’t be able to get him.” Treadrunner objected.

“That’s not the point.” Killzone corrected. “When the grenades explode, it will cause some form of cover long enough for me to fire a few rounds of my cannon at him.”

“But, Flak cannons can’t reach that far. You still won’t hit him.”

“The explosion won’t, but the shockwave will. And that’s what we need to break Crashdown’s scrambler control.”

Treadrunner looked down at his arm, He saw and felt the damage and he knew he couldn’t do much else.

“Okay.” Treadrunner agreed. He handed Killzone a grenade.

“Can I object to this?” Hailfire asked.

“No.” Treadrunner answered.

Killzone took the grenade.

“Alright,” Killzone declared. “On my command, we all throw a grenade. Ready?”

A couple rounds of sniper fire, causing all three of them to flinch.

“I’m ready.”

Hailfire groaned.

Just as Killzone was about to give the command, a mind numbing sensation washed over everyone. Treadrunner lost all his motor control, as well as feeling that every piston in his body was getting tense at the same time. He could see and hear everything that was happening. Hailfire dropped his grenade, and it seemed like the Decepticon was fighting it as well, doing what he could to hold on to his grenade.

A Jet passed overhead, and was circling back around. It was at this point the sniper fire stopped, and the Jet transformed and came closer.

Treadrunner saw the face of the transformer approaching, and it screamed crazy. The wide eyes, the gigantic smile, and his giddy giggles. Treadrunner also saw the decepticon logo plastered across the new arrival’s chest.

“You know,” He began, approaching with his hands behind his back. “When I saw you running away from the other autobots, I was really tempted to leave you alone.” he got really close to Killzone’s face, in a very mocking way. “But then I began to wonder, what would you do-”

The new arrival was cut short by Killzone making a jump at him. The new arrival was quick however, as he was able to get out of the way, letting Killzone fall on his face.

“Oh, that’s right.” the new arrival folded his arms in disappointment. “You’re more resistant to my scrambler than most others, aren’t you?” he shook his head at Killzone.

“Crashdown...I...will…” Killzone began.

“No. Stop.” Crashdown commanded. A few panels opened up on Crashdown’s chest, and a bizarre buzzing sound was difficult to hear what was going on, but Crashdown’s voice was clear to hear. “You may be resistant, but I know that they are not.

The buzzing noise was very intense. It felt like a combination of a headache, combined with a drill noise, and that drill was making its way through your eyes and ears. It was getting so intense that Treadrunner felt like he was going to hurl... but he couldn’t. It felt horrible. But even worse was the second sensation, one that he feared more than the fact that he had lost control of his senses and servos.

“So, as a last hurrah, I think that he should end you. He looks like he would have fu-”

Treadrunner screamed. His spark went into a panic, building up more and more energy. Treadrunner could feel the energy build up in his mouth. He could feel the energy throughout his entire body, stiffening his joints and causing his endoskeleton to shake. 

And then, it was quiet. The buzzing noise was gone, the loss of sensation dispelled, and Treadrunner could finally relax.

It took a few seconds for Treadrunner to regain his full senses, and a few seconds longer for him to gain the motivation to get up. He got up, slowly. Then the pain in his shoulder reminded him that he was shot there. He ached all over. His hand moved to feel the shot on his shoulder, and to cover it up at the same time.

Treadrunner examined Hailfire first, checking to make sure that he was okay.

“What was that?”

Treadrunner turned around to see Killzone getting and approaching him. Treadrunner then saw the body of Crashdown lying down as well.

“It’s...a spark panic.” Treadrunner admitted.

“No. That's not a spark panic. That felt like an EMP.” Killzone admitted.

“Believe what you will.” Treadrunner suggested. “Commander Killzone,” he got up and met Killzone’s gaze. “I suggest a truce for the time being. We both have warriors that need medical attention. We collect them, and we can go our separate ways.”

Killzone thought about this for a second, looking back at Crashdown. 

“Very well.” Killzone agreed.

With a feeling of relief, Treadrunner Collected Hailfire, and Killzone collected Crashdown. Treadrunner didn’t see where the other commander went, nor did he care. His focus was now on getting his warriors back to base. It took a bit to find Camo, but she was found. Treadrunner examined her and only found her unconscious, but alive. With this relief, he collected her as well, and went home.


End file.
